For as long as I can remember, there were huge pieces of plywood outside the property gates saying “Keep Out” and “No Trespassing”. I never knew what was back there until I moved into the area. It was then I started hearing all kinds of stories from friends and neighbors about how when they were young, they would sneak back onto the property to catch a glimpse of the castles back there. “Castles?!” I remember thinking the first time I heard them mentioned… “You’ve got to be kidding!”
And they weren’t kidding – they really are there! You can’t sneak on the property anymore – there are way more alarms set all over than you can shake a stick at, but you can go on a tour of the property. I got to go yesterday
Our guide, Bill – who is connected with the Pendleton Center United Methodist Church - was really personable and very interesting to listen to… he was no slouch when it came to the history of the place!
The grounds and the castles are in disrepair, but as we walked through, it was easy to see how grand the place must have looked in it’s day. Unfortunately for the owner of the property, her husband passed away before their plans for restoration could get underway and she wasn’t left with the money to do them herself. I think that it is really nice of her to allow people to tour the property.
There are two castles – one French castle and one German castle. They aren’t the big huge medieval castles that you see in King Arthur movies, but they are still castles. We could go inside the French one, but not the German one – evidently the floors have all rotted away in that one. The German castle has a real moat all the way around it!
The French castle on the hill
The German Castle
A badly deteriorated moose!
One of the bridges going over the moat. (I photoshopped out a very distracting plastic tote that was in the water)
This place must have been magnificent at one time
I think these were from the Pan-Am Exposition. They were originally on pillars, but they were either stolen or broken. Now they are chained up so that they won’t “disappear”…
I will put more pictures up on Flickr within the next few days.
***Update*** Finally done!
We were there for a little more than an hour and there was no charge. For information on upcoming tours, you can contact the Pendleton Center United Methodist Church (which happens to be right across the street from the castles).
***Update*** The Pendleton Center United Methodist Church no longer offers tours of the castles.
Oh, and you don’t see big “No Trespassing” signs outside the gates anymore either. Evidently the owner allowed a film crew to shoot part of one the Chainsaw Massacre movies on the property a few years ago and the movie company didn’t want the signs there. They promised to replace the spray-painted pieces of plywood with some nice custom-made signs. They never did.
